Anyone who has had to work in a noisy office, walk down a street surrounded by roaring construction equipment, pull up beside a car blasting a Nickelback tune or sit outside during the springtime revival of lawn mowers knows that noise can be extremely annoying.
In fact, the word “noise” comes from the Latin word for “nausea.” And research indicates that excessive noise is more than just bothersome; it’s bad for your health in a number of ways.
While hearing loss is a well-known risk when it comes to exposure to excessive noise, there are many other potential health risks. According to Michael Sharpe, an audiologist in Dartmouth, N.S. who studies industrial noise for companies in Atlantic Canada, cases of hearing loss arising from a single exposure to a particular noise are exceptional. It’s more often a combination of time and intensity that leads to hearing loss, such as regular exposure to an MP3 player with the volume turned up.
So, while you should always guard against hearing loss caused by noise, that ringing or “stuffed ears” feeling you get after a Metallica concert is not necessarily a sign of permanent damage. Typically, you would have to be exposed to 85 decibels of noise (equivalent to the output by a snowblower) for eight hours a day for several years before you would develop hearing loss.
Most current research into noise is looking into its non-auditory health effects. As cities become more densely populated, researchers are investigating and tracking the immediate and cumulative effects of so-called “noise pollution.”
Stress and noise
According to Eric Greenspoon, president of NoiseWatch, an organization in Guelph, Ont., that raises public awareness about the negative effects of noise, there is a limit to the amount of noise our bodies can endure.
Like work, money and relationship problems, Greenspoon says, noise creates stress. And our bodies don’t make distinctions when it comes to stress triggers.
Scientists have found that noise, like any stressor, can release damaging stress hormones that can suppress and alter our immune and digestive systems, as well as increase both heart rate and blood pressure.
In fact, according to Sharpe, researchers have discovered that even while we are fast sleep, noise can have a negative effect on our blood pressure.
“Even though the person doesn’t wake up,” Sharpe says, “the blood pressure [rises and] doesn’t come back down.”
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), noise also plays a serious role in sleep disturbances and deprivation, causing alterations in sleep stages and depth. This sleep disruption can lead to a host of physiological responses, most relating to the cardiovascular system.
The low-frequency hum that most city dwellers hear at night can affect our sleep, Greenspoon says, without us even being aware of the problem.
“There are noises that come into your house,” he says, “that are fairly quiet, sometimes barely perceptible. But [they are] disrupting your sleep.”
The secondary effects of these sleep disturbances can continue for days, according to the WHO, and include increased fatigue, depressed mood and decreased performance.
Financial advisors trying to work in a noisy office can attest to the fact that noise also can affect our ability to concentrate. Again, it’s not just that noise is distracting: the health fallout also might be longer lasting, affecting your overall cognitive abilities.
For example, scientists have noted that children in schools located closer to airports don’t perform as well on reading and cognitive testing as their peers who work without air traffic-related noises in the background.
Noise bylaws
It’s still early days in noise research, and scientists can’t say for certain what the long-term, non-auditory impact of noise is on individuals. But this research linking noise to heart issues is important because heart disease and stroke are two of the three leading causes of death in Canada; every seven minutes, someone in Canada dies from heart disease or stroke, according to the Heart & Stroke Foundation.
Can reducing noise play a role in reducing this figure?
Greenspoon thinks so. With the raised consciousness of noise pollution, boosted by the controversy over wind-generated power, many communities are starting to take notice. Some are enforcing their noise bylaws, which restrict the use of noisy machinery to certain times, for instance.
However, the noise-aware among us insist that much more can be done. Greenspoon says that consumers should be able to include noise considerations in their buying decisions, for example. NoiseWatch encourages companies to include decibel levels on product packaging, he says: “Any product that emits a sound should have a number.”
You also should be aware of the unnecessary noises for which you might be responsible, such as your loud stereo or a barking dog. Reducing this type of sound, Greenspoon says, can greatly improve the noise levels in your community.
“I think a majority of neighbourhood noise problems could be remedied,” he says, “if people were more considerate.”
Sharpe, meanwhile, would like to see more architects consider acoustics when designing public buildings. And his advice for individuals is to appreciate the value of quiet by seeking quiet as much as possible.
Doing so might give your body and mind the chance to heal from the physiological impact of noise in everyday life.
© 2013 Investment Executive. All rights reserved.